The Bush administration’s refusal to release climate change documents has been declared unlawful by a federal court. As AP and others note, District Court Judge Saundra Armstrong has set a 31 May 2008 deadline for the government to produce a projection of global warming’s effects on the US environment and economy. Although the government is required to produce such an assessment every four years the most recent one was issued by the Clinton administration in 2000. “The defendants have unlawfully withheld reports they are required to disseminate,” ruled Armstrong (judgement PDF).

“The reports are supposed to be the premiere summary on the science of global warming in this country and used by all federal agencies … The Bush administration essentially deep-sixed these reports,” said Kassie Siegel of conservation group the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups which took the case to court (ABC News).

As the San Francisco Chronicle points out: “The ruling was the second legal defeat for the administration on global warming this year. The Supreme Court ruled in April that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted from vehicle tailpipes were pollutants subject to federal regulation — rejecting the government’s position that it lacked such authority — and said the voluntary measures promoted by the Bush administration were an inadequate substitute for regulation.”

The Center for Biological Diversity has put out a press release and further details of the case.

Image: Getty